Froome Leads U.K. Team to Tour de France Victory

Chris Froome was more than 50 miles from completing the Tour de France when he reached into the Team Sky car for a glass of Champagne. Until Sunday, he had held off on any kind of celebration. But by taking those first sips, fulfilling the obligatory Tour tradition of cycling slightly under the influence, he acknowledged that it was over.

In reality, the Tour had been safe for Froome for several stages. He went into the largely ceremonial final stage of the Tour's 100th running, from Versailles to the Champs Élysées, with an unassailable advantage of 5 minutes, 11 seconds.

"This really has been an amazing journey for me," Froome said Saturday. "The race has been a fight—every single day something different: Crosswinds, rain, good days in the mountains, bad days in the mountains."

The next few years could see Team Sky's success grow into a dynasty. Even if Froome, 28, didn't race again and teammate Bradley Wiggins, the 2012 winner who sat out this year due to injury, didn't return to the Tour, the British outfit could build a general classification campaign around Richie Porte of Australia. Porte, 28, was an intrinsic part of Froome's victory and Froome, who called him the second-best general-classification rider in the race, seemed to thank him after every stage.

"I can't tell what the future holds but I was quite late getting into the sport," Froome said. "I've only been a professional for five years. This is my sixth year, and it's been a fast progression for me."

But throughout the three weeks, Team Sky's critics weren't interested in its immediate future. They cared more about cycling's recent past.

This was the first Tour since Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven titles for doping and questions about doping were never far away. Team Sky principal Dave Brailsford called this "probably the worst Tour to try to win" because of Armstrong's long shadow.

For the skeptics who have derided some of Froome's performances as "superhuman" on this Tour, a frustrated Team Sky went on a public relations offensive last week. The outfit released Froome's power data dating to 2011 to the French sports daily L'Equipe so that it could have it reviewed by an independent expert and publish his findings (but not the data). In a report headlined "The Froome File," the paper's expert, a French physiologist and cycling coach working with the FDJ.fr team, concluded that "his power data over the last two years is coherent with the performances he's showing now."

Standing on the podium Sunday night in front of the Arc de Triomphe, Froome indirectly referenced those questions by saying, "This is one yellow jersey that will stand the test of time."

Froome had worn the yellow jersey ever since he turned the screws with a ferocious climb to Ax 3 Domaines in the Pyrenees in Stage 8. After that, he won only two more stages—dramatically on Mont Ventoux and in the last individual time trial. But his performance in this Tour was so complete and so consistent that he hardly needed anything else. His overall lead had been greater than 4 minutes for a week before he rolled into Paris.

Last week, only a dramatic collapse could have stopped him. Because it became clear in the Alps that Alberto Contador wasn't going to. The Spanish climber, a two-time Tour winner riding for Saxo-Tinkoff, faded badly on the Alpe d'Huez last Thursday and never mounted the final challenge that Froome was expecting—he finished fourth. Instead another brilliant climber emerged, Movistar's 23-year-old from Colombia, Nairo Quintana. Quintana finished second overall with more jerseys than he could wear: One with polka dots for the King of the Mountains and the white top that goes to the best young rider. Joaquin Rodriguez of Katusha was third. And the green jersey for the rider who tops the points classification went to the sprinter Peter Sagan.

In Britain, Froome's victory was seen as the latest chapter in its summer of sporting success: Andy Murray broke the curse at Wimbledon, Justin Rose claimed golf's U.S. Open, the British and Irish Lions rugby team won in Australia, and England's cricket team is on top in the Ashes. But the question of just how British Froome really is has come up throughout the Tour. He has spent more of his life in at least three countries besides than the U.K.

Froome, who speaks often about his attachment to Africa in his African accent, was born and raised in Kenya, the country he also competed for before taking his parents' British citizenship. He went to school in South Africa. And he now lives with his fiancée in Monaco.

"It's going to be cool to have the first African winner," said Turron Bird, a 23-year-old fan from South Africa who has followed the race to Paris. "He's a British rider, but we can still claim him."

Froome considers himself a subject of the queen and could be considered for a knighthood. After all, Wiggins earned one last year when he became the first British rider to win the Tour.

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